ITHTJ 03

Chapter : 3

I Wanted to Be a Villain (3)

Still wavering, I turned toward where I heard the scream.

‘I may be in the middle of running away after trying to scam someone, but I’m not such a piece of trash that I’d ignore a cry for help!’

I hurried toward the sound, flying swiftly, and arrived at a deserted alley where not a single ray of light reached.

“Help me… please. Is there anyone? Anyone at all, please….”

As I drew closer, I heard a woman’s sobbing voice.

I swallowed hard and tried to look ahead, but—

‘It’s pitch-black. I can’t see anything.’

The alley past midnight was overwhelmingly dark.

I created a small flame above my palm and let it float in the air to secure my vision.

As my surroundings slowly brightened, figures hidden in the darkness came into view.

‘There.’

A girl wrapped in a cloak from head to toe was standing there, facing off against two armed thugs holding swords.

‘They’re even armed. Ugh, what a headache.’

Fortunately, it didn’t seem like the thugs had noticed me yet.

‘If I use magic in such a narrow alley, that girl might get hurt too.’

I crept up behind them, rummaging through my clothes.

I planned to use just a tiny amount of the “Dreaming Butterfly Powder” I’d used on Eclipse earlier.

‘Ugh, it feels like a waste to use it on guys like these.’

I kept searching for the bottle of powder, but—

‘What? Where did it go?’

I couldn’t feel the cool glass vial that should’ve been at my fingertips.

My blood ran cold in an instant. Don’t tell me—

‘It’s gone.’

Something that should’ve been there was missing. Without a trace.

“Ah—excuse me!”

At that moment, the cloaked woman shouted toward me.

“Please help me! Those strange people are threatening to kill me…!”

At the same time, the sword-wielding thugs hurriedly turned toward me.

“What the hell, where did you come from?”
“There was nobody here just a second ago.”
“…Gone.”
“What?”

I muttered blankly.

“It’s gone. It’s really gone.”

My Dreaming Butterfly Powder.

That insanely expensive item worth an entire year’s revenue…

“It’s gone. It disappeared!”

As I kept muttering, the thugs actually hesitated.

“What’s with her, just showing up like that.”
“That woman seems a bit off. Dressed all in black, with a huge hat… isn’t that a broom she’s holding?”
“What? A broom? Then is she a witch?”

At this moment, not a single word reached my ears.

Nothing could replace the year I’d lost.

To lose something so precious—made with money I’d saved by skipping meals—so pointlessly…

“My powder….”

I kept muttering, unable to recover from the shock.

“My precious money….”

It felt like half my heart had dropped out.

Do you know how hard I worked to make that? How many days and nights I burned myself out for it?!

“I burned myself out….”

And now it’s gone. My year’s worth of earnings abandoned me and left without mercy.

What was so urgent that you had to leave me, powder?

You promised to make me rich. You promised to shower me with gold and jewels! How could you abandon me?!

“She looks really unstable. This won’t do—let’s retreat. What if we get hurt….”
“Where do you think you’re running?”

I snapped my head up. One of the thugs was trembling, letting out a thin whimper.

“Eek.”

I stepped down from my broom and thrust one hand forward.

“W-what are you trying to do?”
“What does it look like?”

With that, flames burst from my fingertips.

“I’m going to hit you with one shot!”

These flames carry all my rage and sorrow over my vanished powder, you bastards!

In an instant, the fire surrounding the ground swelled in size, encircling the thugs.

“Aaaah! Fire, fire!”
“Spare us!”
“Where do you think you’re going?!”

I fired a burst of flame in front of a thug trying to run.

“You won’t be taking even a single step.”

I shouted dramatically, like a champion of justice.

In reality, I was just a small-time extra.

‘Seriously… how does life get this messed up?’

I wasn’t exactly well-off in my past life either.

So shouldn’t I at least get to live well after reincarnating? That’s what everyone says these days, right?

“Please spare us! I don’t want to die in a place like this. Lord Adin, please…!”
“Hey, get a grip! We have to find a way out!”

A name that caught my attention slipped out of one panicking thug’s mouth.

Adin? As in Adin, the god of peace whom the original heroine serves?

‘Wow, look at him. In a situation like this, he’s calling out to a god because he doesn’t want to die.’

After threatening others first, now he’s praying because his own life’s in danger?

I clicked my tongue in disbelief.

Looks like I needed to teach these thugs a proper lesson.

‘Though coming from someone who was just trying to scam people herself.’

I gathered mana at my fingertips and aimed it at them.

Just as I was about to unleash it—

“Wait!”

The woman who had been screaming for help suddenly stepped in front of me.

“Kyaaah!”

I hastily pulled back my mana and staggered backward.

My heart pounded—it felt like encountering a deer suddenly jumping out on a mountain road.

Not that I’ve ever driven, though.

“You scared me…! What are you doing? That was almost dangerous!”
“Please stop. I think they’ve understood well enough.”

The wo—no, the deer—said calmly as she stood close to me.

“What did you say?”

They threatened you. Pointed swords at you.

And you’re just going to let them go?

“They need to be taught a lesson. Otherwise, people like them will just keep doing this.”
“No, they won’t. So please, calm your anger.”

What? Suddenly? How can you be so sure?

I stared at the woman—much taller than me—with a dumbfounded expression.

‘Forgiving people who tried to kill her? Is she some kind of saint?’

I tried to get a good look at her, but with her hood pulled low, I couldn’t see her face properly.

She didn’t seem ordinary… maybe a noble?

“Let’s run while we can!”
“Aaah, spare us!”

Seizing the chance, the thugs bolted.

“Hey! Stop right there, you punks!”

I tried to mount my broom to chase them, but—

“Just a moment, please.”

I was stopped again.

‘Now what?’

Is this how a fisherman feels when the fish slips away right at the end?

I turned to her with a hollow expression.

‘If this turns out to be nothing, I’m really going to get angry.’

See? I look scary, right? I even scrunched up my face like this.

If she tried to stop me again with some goody-two-shoes nonsense, I was seriously going to—

“May I ask your name, if you don’t mind?”
“My name?”
“Yes. I would like to repay my benefactor who saved my life.”

Oh, you should’ve said that earlier!

I almost got mad for nothing.

I beamed as if nothing had happened.

“I’m Elsie Bloomhire. The great witch of Windelton’s Seventh District.”

Yes, this is it. You give and you receive!

Turns out you’re quite the person, aren’t you?

At the mention of compensation, my posture straightened and energy returned to my previously slumped body.

“Elsie Bloomhire of Windelton’s Seventh District….”

As if committing it to memory, the woman repeated it softly a few times, then clasped her hands and smiled.

“Thank you, Lady Elsie. I will surely repay this kindness.”
“Oh, really, there’s no need to go that far.”

Despite waving my hands modestly, my face was lit up with delight.

What’s this about becoming the world’s greatest villain? I’d be lucky not to die while trying to scam people.

‘See? People really should live honestly.’

In high spirits, I started chatting away.

“I must’ve startled you earlier by getting so emotional. You see, I lost something I was planning to sell, so I got a bit on edge. It was worth an entire year’s revenue, so I was especially sensitive.”

And it looks like you alone could more than make up for that lost revenue, miss!

I covered my mouth with both hands and grinned widely.

The woman, who had been staring at me, murmured with a sympathetic expression.

“I see. To think you lost something precious because of me.”
“It’s alright. Nothing’s more important than life, after all.”

Half true, half a lie—but so what?

It’s not a complete lie, right?

“I will compensate you.”